Nancy Frase,

           Counselor

About Me . . .

I am a Colorado native, born and partly raised in the Denver area.  The remainder of my growing up occurred in a farming community in the panhandle of Nebraska.  I grew up feeding pigs and chickens, driving tractors and combines, fixing vehicles and helping with home remodels. My dad was a farmer and a master carpenter, and my mom was a homemaker, seamstress, and bookkeeper.  I took to the tomboy stuff way more than I took to the domestic stuff.  Music was a significant focus of my childhood; I sang and played a variety of instruments, including piano.

In my 20s, I went to college in Oklahoma and then moved to the Washington, D.C. area.  I remained in the D.C. area for nearly a decade.  I worked as a software developer and project manager in the defense industry.  My specialty was turning around distressed, large-scale, high-risk, and high-profile projects.  In my spare time, I rode motorcycles all over the east coast.  I also volunteered as an EMT and Level III firefighter with certifications in scene management, pumper driving/operations, aerial driving/operations, confined space rescue, high angle rescue, hazardous materials, etc.  At one point, I got involved with bungee jumping and wrote the first book in the industry. 

Around the time I turned 30, I moved back to Colorado to be closer to my family.  In the twenty-plus years since I have been back in Colorado, my life has taken some interesting twists and turns.  In my mid-30s, my career in software development came to an abrupt end, which threw me into a financially difficult time.  I struggled to rebuild my professional life as well as my personal life.  That was a very dark time for me.  I worked various odd jobs until I discovered how much I enjoy teaching piano lessons.  I have been a piano teacher for more than a decade and I still teach piano part-time.

Having to struggle to rebuild my life motivated me to deal with some major personal issues.  I turned to psychotherapy, which allowed me to better manage some significantly destructive behaviors and to process some major trauma I had experienced.  The healing experience was so profound for me that I found myself wanting to pass along that healing experience to others.  That desire motivated me to become a psychotherapist.

Music and spirituality have always been a significant part of my life.  During my childhood, my family was very involved in a conservative Christian community.  The church played a major role in my formative years.  In fact, my first two years of college were heavily focused on Christian theology.  In more recent years, my spiritual beliefs have expanded to become more universalistic.  I have found comforting widsom in the New Thought and Buddhist philosophies.  I am most connected to spirit when I am hiking.  Music, spirituality, and my connection with nature have played a central role in my healing journey; they are still important to me now.

I hold a bachelors of science degree in psychology from Colorado State University.  My undergraduate studies were focused on child development, sensory perception, memory and learning.  I hold a master's degree from Adams State University, with a dual-emphasis in clinical/community counseling and school counseling. I became a registered psychotherapist in 2018 and a licensed professional counselor candidate in 2021. I  have recently completed the coursework for a doctorates in human behavior through Capella University. I am currently working on my doctoral dissertation, the subject of which is the impact of conservative Christianity in childhood on spiritual development across the lifespan. I am striving to graduate with my PhD in 2026. 

I was able to build the skills needed for working with people who have experienced sexual abuse and other forms of domestic violence through my 18-month master's-level clinical internship at ChildSafe Colorado in Fort Collins. ChildSafe specializes in working with victims of childhood sexual abuse and their non-offending family members.  I was trained by one of the most experienced sexual-abuse therapists in Colorado.

The journey that has gotten me to this point in my life has been nothing short of remarkable.  I would not trade my experiences for anything.  I am delighted to be in this place at this time.  It is exactly where I am supposed to be.  It would be an honor to spend some time with you as you travel your own healing path, if you choose to reach out to me.  Either way, I wish only the best for you.